All Hallows Evening Prayer for Sunday Evening (November 29, 2020)

 

Evening Prayer 

The Service of Light

Jesus Christ is the light of the world.
A light no darkness can extinguish.

Open this link in a new tab to hear John Scott’s arrangement of “Creator of the Stars of Night.”

Creator of the stars of night
Thy people’s everlasting light
O Jesus, Saviour of us all
Regard thy servants when they call

Thou, grieving at the bitter cry
Of all creation doomed to die
Didst come to save a ruined race
With healing gifts of heav’n’ly grace

Thou camest, bridegroom of the bride
As drew the world to eveningtide
Proceeding from a virgin shrine
The Son of Man, yet Lord divine

At thy great name, majestic now
All knees must bend, all hearts must bow
And things in heav’n and earth shall own
That thou art Lord and King alone

To thee, O holy One, we pray
Our judge in that tremendous day
Preserve us, while we dwell below
From ev’ry onslaught of the foe

All praise, eternal Son, to thee
Whose advent sets thy people free
Whom with the Father we adore
And Spirit blest, for evermore. Amen.

Thanksgiving

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe,
creator of light and darkness.
In this holy season.
you renew your promise to reveal among us
the splendor of your glory,
enfleshed and visible to us in Jesus Christ your Son.
Through the prophets
you teach us to hope for his reign of peace,
Through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,
you open our blindness to the glory of his presence.
Strengthen us in our weakness.
Support us in our stumbling efforts to your will
and free our tongues to sing your praise.
For to you all honour and blessing are due,
Now and for ever. Amen.

Psalm 141 is sung and incense may be burned.

Open this link in a new tab to hear Peter Inwood’s setting of Psalm 141, “O Lord, Let My Prayer Rise Before You Like Incense.”

O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

1. Lord, I am calling:
hasten to help me.
Listen to me as I cry to you.
Let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

2. Lord, set a guard at my mouth,
keep watch at the gate of my lips.
Let my heart not turn to things that are wrong,
to sharing the evil deeds done by the sinful.
No, I will never taste their delights.

O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

3. The good may reprove me,
in kindness chastise me,
but the wicked shall never anoint my head.
Ev’ry day I counter their malice with prayer.

O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

4 To you, Lord, my God, my eyes are turned:
in you I take refuge;
do not forsake me.
Keep me from the traps they have set for me,
from the snares of those who do evil.

O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

5 Praise to the Father, praise to the Son,
all praise to the life-giving Spirit.
As it was, is now and shall always be
for ages unending. Amen.

O Lord, let my prayer rise before you as incense,
my hands like an evening offering.

Silence is kept.

Let the incense of our repentant prayer ascend before you, O Lord, and let your loving kindness descend upon us, that with purified minds we may sing your praises with the Church on earth and the whole heavenly host, and may glorify you forever and ever. Amen.

The Psalms

Open this link in a new tab to hear Mark Shepperd’s choral arrangement of Psalm 84, “How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place.”

O Lord, O Lord, O Lord,
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, O Lord,
how lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, O Lord.

My soul, my soul, yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God,
my heart and my flesh cry out cry out for the living God.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, O Lord,
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, O Lord.

Even the sparrow, the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest,
where she may have her young,
where she may have her young.

O Lord almighty, my King and my God.
O Lord almighty, my King, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you,
ever praising you,
ever praising you, O my God,
O my God.

O Lord, O Lord, O Lord,
how lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, O Lord.
How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord.

Silence is kept.

Lord God,
sustain us in this vale of tears
with the vision of your grace and glory,
that, strengthened by the bread of life,
we may come to your eternal dwelling place;
in the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Proclamation of the Word

The Reading

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

The Gospel of Christ
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Silence is kept.

Homily

In Jesus’s Ways Go On 

Today’s reading comes from a section of Matthew’s Gospel, which is sometimes described as the “woes to the scribes and Pharisees” and in which Jesus denounces the religious leaders of the time.

Woe is a word that we do not use very much anymore in everyday speech. In English it is also not used in the way Jesus is using it in his denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees.

What they are doing, Jesus is telling them in the strongest terms, will have disastrous consequences for them. They are earning for themselves God’s condemnation. What they crave most of all is the respect and admiration of their fellow Jews and the perks that go with this respect and admiration. They highly-esteem themselves and want their fellow Jews to see them in the same light. They are putting the approval of men before God’s approval and consequently alienating themselves from God.

In today’s reading Jesus draws to their attention that they are, what we would describe in our time, “majoring in the minors.” They are very fussy about unimportant things—the quantity of mint, dill, and cumin that they tithe—but they are overlooking what is really important—justice and mercy and faith.

Mint, dill, and cumin are herbs used to season food. While they have some medicinal properties, their primary use is culinary. They are common seasonings in Mid-Eastern cuisine.

Jesus’ denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees is quite scathing. We should take heed to it. While we may not like to admit it, we may be guilty of some of the same things as the scribes and Pharisees. We too may be earning God’s condemnation.

In today’s reading Jesus emphasizes the importance of what he describes as the “weightier matters of the law”—justice and mercy and faith. In stressing the importance of justice and mercy and faith Jesus is not introducing anything new. The same emphasis on these matters is found in the Law and the Prophets, in the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament, a truth to which Jesus draws the attention of those who came to hear him.

When viewed in the light of Jesus’ teaching, the Old Testament offers us helpful insights into what Jesus means when is talks about justice and mercy and faith.

The Old Testament take a dim view of what a modern-day businessman might consider “smart” practices, of not treating others fairly, of cheating them, of dealing with others in bad faith, and of not paying them for their labors.

The Old Testament teaches us that we should love our neighbor and the stranger in our midst. It tells us that we should not nurse resentment toward others and hold grudges against them. The Old Testament teach us to show kindness and restraint toward our enemies. We should help lift up an enemy’s donkey if it falls in the road beneath its load. We should return an enemy’s straying ox to its owner. We should not take out our ill feelings toward our enemy on the donkey or the ox.

The Old Testament tell us that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. While we may fulfill our religious obligations, our hearts may be far from God because we fail to show kindness, compassion, and forgiveness to others.

The Old Testament filled with praise for those who put their trust in God.

Jesus draws on the truths and principles found in the Old Testament in his own teaching. He teaches that we should be merciful as God himself is merciful and thereby show ourselves to be children of the Most High. He enjoins us to treat others with kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. He commands us to love even our enemies, to return blessings for curses, good for evil..

Jesus taught his disciples to be true to their word and to keep their promises. He rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for robbing widows and avoiding their filial obligations to their parents and not supporting their parents in their old age. He drove the money changers from the Temple because they were profiteering from exchanging ordinary coinage into Temple coinage.

And yes, Jesus paid his taxes. While he told Peter that he and his disciples were not obligated to pay the Temple tax, he did not attempt to dodge paying it.

There is clearly a difference between “Jesus’ ways” as the “Garden Hymn,” our closing song describes them, and the world’s ways. Listen carefully the second to last verse of Tim Eriksen’s rendition of this 1835 spiritual song from Southern Harmony.

Come brethren ye who love the Lord
Who taste the sweetness of his word,
In Jesus' ways go on,
In Jesus' ways go on.

Do we really need any more urging? We have God himself at work in us to will and do his good pleasure. Our lives are filled with an abundance of his grace. We have the promise of seeing our Lord’s face when we come to the end of this life. What more do we need?

Silence is kept.

The Gospel Canticle

Open this link in a new tab to hear Lucien Deiss' setting of the Magnificat.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

And from this day all generations will call me blessed: *
the Almighty has done great things for me,
holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and sent the rich away empty handed.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
for he remembered his promise of mercy,

The promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Intercessions

Let us complete our evening prayer to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For peace from on high and our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For the welfare of all churches and for the unity of the human family, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For (name), our bishop, and (name), our pastor, and for all ministers of the Gospel, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For our nation, its government, and for all who serve and protect us, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For this city (town, university, monastery…). For every city and community, and for all those living in them, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For the good earth which God has given us and for the wisdom and will to conserve it, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For the safety of travelers, the recovery of the sick, the care of the destitute and the release of prisoners, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For an angel of peace to guide and protect us, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For a peaceful evening and a night free from sin, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

For a Christian end to our lives and for all who have fallen asleep in Christ, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.

In the communion of the Holy Spirit (and of all the saints), let us commend ourselves and one another to the living God through Christ our Lord.
To you, O Lord.

Free Prayer

In silent or spontaneous prayer all bring before God the concerns of the day.

The Collect

Almighty God,
give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness
and put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life
In which Jesus came among us in great humility,
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer is said.

And now, as our Saviour has taught us,
we are bold to say,

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory
for ever and ever.
Amen.

Dismissal 

Open this link in a new tab to hear Tim Eriksen's rendition of "The Lord into His Garden Comes" from Southern Harmony.

The Lord into his garden comes,
The spices yield a rich perfume,
The lilies grow and thrive,
The lilies grow and thrive.

Refreshing showers of grace divine,
From Jesus flow to every vine,
And make the dead revive,
And make the dead revive.

O that this dry and barren ground
In springs of water may abound,
A fruitful soil become,
A fruitful soil become.

The desert blossoms as the rose
As Jesus conquers all his foes,
And makes his people one,
And makes his people one.

Come brethren ye who love the Lord
Who taste the sweetness of his word,
In Jesus' ways go on,
In Jesus' ways go on.

Our troubles and our trials here
Will only make us richer there
When we arrive at home,
When we arrive at home.

Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

May the God of peace equip us with everything good for
doing his will, working in us what is pleasing to him,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever
and ever. Amen.